Hi Intestinalworm ,
I have recently got hold of one of these cameras for reversing.
7" Wireless LCD Rearview Monitor + Bus Car Caravan LED Reverse Backup Camera Kit, ebay;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Wireless-LCD-Rearview-Monitor-Bus-Car-Caravan-LED-Reverse-Backup-Camera-Kit/312602864408?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
Some pro's and con's I have come across, so here they are;
Pro's;
- It appears very well made and the screen is lovely and large being 7 inches.
- Its really easy to install. (Although there were no instructions)
- No wiring from rear to front of car needed as its wireless 100%.
- Has additional inputs for video etc if you want them
- Image is very clear and screen fully adjustable with contrast, brightness, flip left to right, flip image upside down if needed, etc
- Arrived within 6 days as UK seller, not like waiting for weeks from china etc
- Spending a little longer to hard wire the power etc makes a much tidier finish and well worth it. (Took me about 2 hours)
- If you connect the +ive to your reverse lights, it will activate the camera then, but if you wire it to a cigarette plug, you can leave it on permanently allowing you to watch trailer towing etc
- It has a remote control to adjust all settings as well as buttons on the display screen.
- I had another smaller screen I installed on another car but it didn't have any facilities to adjust brightness, flip image etc. Also, the screen image was not as clear and sharp as this unit. Although this one is bigger, it gives you more options to adjust the image etc but more difficult to find somewhere to put it, as opposed to a smaller screen that's less clear and no adjustment to image etc. I definitely prefer this model to my previous one and the cost is about the same, approx. £37.00
CONS;
- I have initially mounted the rear camera on the inside of the backdoor, but found at night, the infa-red glows and reflects on the back window making it difficult to view at night due to glare showing on the screen (you cant see any reflection in your mirrors, that's fine)
- Because of the glare / reflection at night, I may look to position it outside the rear of the car on the bumper or like in the spare wheel well like someone else did here. That looks pretty good, neat and tidy. I was just running out of daylight, hence the quick fix to the roof lining.
- The screen is pretty large, so finding a place to put it can be difficult, but not impossible. I think you can get a window sucker which may be easier, but it doesn't come with that and its a extra.
- Because I mounted it on a removable panel on the ceiling, you need to fix it in place with screws, not just the double sided tape it comes with.
Installing it;
I mounted the screen on the headlining between the sunroof and interior light (see pics). I ran a direct power + from splicing a wire that's only live when the ignition is on, in the fuse box area, then feeding it up the side pillar, under the windscreen lining and out through a blanking plate. The negative - I wired with a spade onto the bolts that hold the interior light in to get a good ground feed.
The reverse camera, as I said is mounted inside the car facing out the rear window. I'm sure this is fine during the day, but at night, you get the infra-red reflecting on the glass and also the rear window screen demister wires that run across the window (very distracting at night). You can see these demister wires as white lines across the image of the screen picture.
That's about it for installation. It just connects up automatically when switched on.
I am probably going to re-locate the rear camera to outside the car to avoid the reflection problems and when I have more time.
I have attached some pics to give you an idea of what it looks like fitted.
Hope this is helpful.
